Endangered Species: Readers

Endangered Species: Readers

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Gazette Xtra -- As I spend more time and effort trying to steel myself from the painful byproducts of the coming intellectual apocalypse, I keep seeing conclusive evidence that we are deep into the dawn of that event.

I happened to run across a letter to the editor of The New York Times from Michael Agnew, an assistant professor of Spanish at the University of San Diego, who was writing in response to an article titled “Can You Read This? It’s Cursive.” This gem of reportage shared the little-discussed reality that elementary schools, pressed to prepare students for the rigors of standardized tests, are no longer spending much time teaching youngsters how to write in cursive. (Full Story)